The Painting
by isthatacorner
Summary: Carlisle and Esme spend a quiet afternoon in his office. This oneshot is a family story, with a bit more emphasis placed on Carlisle and Esme. Its really very sweet.


Disclaimer: if I didn't own Twilight the last time I wrote a fic, I certainly haven't magically obtained ownership rights now. And besides…would Stephenie Meyer write Harry Potter fanfic?

Summary: Carlisle spends some quiet time alone in his office. Carlisle/Esme. A oneshot

The Painting

For the major moments in my life I have a painting. I have one that was produced around the time of my birth, some three hundred years ago. I have one from my time with the Volturi. On my desk and bookshelves I have several photos from the wedding Esme and I decided to have after camera's became popular. One photo of Alice and Jasper from their wedding, her in a stunning designer gown and him in a simple tuxedo. There are three photo's from Rosalie and Jasper's last weddings, Rosalie comes and changes the pictures regularly--there are literally hundreds to chose from. There is one photograph of Edward standing up with me as my best man at Esme and my wedding, and another of the three of us from that same day.

Despite the decades that my family has been together the time has never seemed right to put paintbrush to canvas and create a family portrait. There has been an empty frame hanging in my study waiting for the portrait to be created and placed with all of the other milestones. I never knew what I was waiting for. I was happier than I had ever been. I had a beautiful, wonderful wife. Amazing children. I could see no way that my eternity could be better than what it currently was. And yet, when I sat in front of the canvas to recreate any of the happy times I had experienced with my family none of them seemed right. None of them provided the impetuous to fill that empty space on the wall.

I walked slowly up and down the length of wall containing my life history, the paintings that I had made and bought throughout my time. Stopping at first this one, and then that one. Looking at the memories and finding the spark in each painting that had first captured my attention in my minds eye -- that called out to me that this moment needed to be persevered. Still moving slowly, I meandered to my shelves to examine the photo's there. The happy, smiling faces in the posed wedding photos, the casual family groupings. The spontaneous photos, the funny ones. In none of them did I find a reason to finally paint the family portrait that the empty space on my wall is waiting for.

"Carlisle?" Esme never knocked. She always opened the door a crack and peeked at me before coming in. She gracefully came towards me, a loving smile on her full lips and a brown package in her hand.

"What's this?"

"A photo." Her smile, if possible, grew. "For your collection." My eyes stayed on hers, there was something mischievous in them today, as I removed the paper. Inside was not one, but two frames.

"The wedding photos are done." This was something I had waited decades to see. Edward in a tuxedo with a bride by his side. The picture was remarkably similar to the one of Jasper and Alice from their wedding photo. Like Alice and Jasper Bella and Edward were outside surrounded by trees and other greenery. Jasper had his fingers interlaced behind Alice's back and was holding her gently to himself as he stared down at her. Alice was resting her head on Jaspers chest and was saucily winking at the camera. The difference between Edward and Bella's wedding photo was merely the energy of the couple. Bella and Edward's love, still being new, made the two almost obnoxiously unaware of others. The moment captured in the silver filigree frame was intense, as most of the young lovers encounters with one another were. Edward held Bella close to him, one hand resting slightly below her hip and the other cupping her chin while she held his face in both of her small hands. The couple was staring intently into one another eyes, and Bella was blushing. This is a picture that will bring pleasure to Edward years after her cold body will no longer be able to flush her cheeks. Smiling, I removed two of the Emmett and Rosalie wedding photos to be banished to another shelf and added the photo of the newlyweds. I smiled at the pleasant grouping. After situating the collection to my liking I turned back to Esme who was patiently holding the other frame. I couldn't help the soft gasp that escaped my lips as I took the soft, aged, wooden frame from her hands.

"Do you like it?" She moved to arrange the photo's on my shelf more to her liking. The interior designer in her didn't like my amateur efforts.

"Esme…it's beautiful."

"I hope you don't mind that I….?" Her voice trailed off as she turned to face me. If I were capable of shedding tears I just may have at that moment.

My gaze shifted to the empty space on my wall. This is the frame that typically hangs there, but the frame is not empty. Esme, my beautiful, wonderful, compassionate, sweet wife had seen the spark that I had been looking for and put it to canvas for me. It was also from the day of the wedding. Bella's mother had been in the kitchen attempting to straighten things up after all of the guests had taken their leave….

"_That wasn't so bad was it?" Edward leaned down and smiled into the eyes of his new wife._

"_I …I…oh!" She began with a stutter, something that happened frequently whenever Edward "dazzled" her and ended with a squeak as the high heels that Alice had forced her into tangled around her legs and skirt once again. Edward caught her before she fell. Behind them and a little to their left Jasper had wrapped himself around Alice and the two were happily smiling and laughing to themselves. To their right Rosalie and Emmett. Rosalie held the train of Bella's dress so as to prevent the human girl from tripping on the excess fabric. Emmett was being taken to task by Esme, who was behind him and hitting him about the head, for laughing at the bride so much on her wedding day and I was next to her smiling at my family. The grouping was casual, an informal unstructured circle. In the center was Bella, the missing piece of our family. The happiness and love of the well spent day was radiating from us all and Renee either by accident or design had been there to snap a photo at the perfect moment--our newest addition being lifted off of her feet before crashing to the ground_.

"Thank you for this. It's perfect."

"Well hang it up already." Her smiled showed a hint of embarrassment. Only Esme could still be bashful after all of this time.

Moving more quickly than I typically do I stood in front of the wall and gently eased the painting into place, Esme beside me.

"Its about time." She murmured, her lips pressed against my neck. "Our family is finally complete."

Authors note: _I _don't find Bella and Edward's romance obnoxious. But in this context I imagined my friends when they were in the early stages of love, how they were all so preoccupied with each other that they barely noticed anyone else and that was a little annoying. That's what I meant by calling their love obnoxious. And I don't know whether or not Carlisle painted any of those paintings in his office--I know in chapter 16 of Twilight Edward tells Bella that Solimena was inspired by Carlisle and his friends, so I know that at least one of those paintings on the wall was acquired. But for the purposes of this story Carlisle painted the others himself.


End file.
